One tree took out two cars on Overland Way last week. The owner of the cars said he had just purchased one of them for his granddaughter and it was not yet insured. The inch of ice that collected on the trees and power lines during Winter Storm Pax took out electricity for most of Gray and a large portion of the county.

Jones County and the City of Gray were among the hardest hit communities by last week’s ice storm, officially named Winter Storm Pax by the National Weather Service.

Jones County declared a local state of emergency at 7:30 a.m. Feb. 12. The declaration was executed by Board of Commissioners Chairman Preston Hawkins and witnessed by Emergency Management Director Don Graham.

Graham said Jones County was the fifth county in the state to execute an official declaration and ended up being one of 47 counties to do so.

Ice was definitely the problem, causing downed trees and power outages that spanned the county. It has been estimated that Jones County received an inch of ice, and that resulted in over 16,000 residents being without electricity.

The EMA director said, after filing the declaration with the state and federal agencies, a representative of Georgia Emergency Management services immediately called him.

Hawkins said he received a call from Gov. Nathan Deal at about 4 p.m., inquiring about the situation in Jones County and offering help from the state.

“He gave me his direct number. I thought that was pretty good and put it in my phone,” he said.

Hawkins said he was watching Gunsmoke when he received the governor’s call, and he certainly was not expecting it.